The Australian Local Government Association has lashed out again proposed changes to natural disaster funding arrangements.

ALGA has come out against a number of draft recommendations it says will place significant financial burdens on councils, which are already experiencing clear resource constraints.

Its submission to the Productivity Commission Inquiry is available here, in PDF form. 

ALGA has stated its opposition to several recommendations, including the reduction of the marginal cost sharing contribution rate to disaster recovery outlays.

The Productivity Commission’s draft report suggests cutting this rate to 50 per cent under the Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements.

The peak body for councils is also against increasing the small disaster threshold from $240,000 to $2 million. State associations oppose these recommendations too.

But it is not opposed to some of the suggestions, particularly those relating to the need for greater resource allocation to mitigations, risk assessment and management, and better provision of timely and accurate information.

The council representatives said they welcome the suggestion that councils be given greater autonomy in how they respond to perceived threats, and how they recover from adverse events.

ALGA says it will bring all these concerns to the Productivity Commission when it appears at hearings in Melbourne this week.